]]>Currently serving as the pastor of three small West Virginia churches affiliated with three different Mainline Protestant denominations, John Unger believes he may be the first minister to hold such a position. He is also a politician, serving as a senator in the West Virginia legislature.

]]>http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2014/11/07/november-7-2014-john-unger/24540/feed/2Democrat,Lutheran,pastor,Politics,Senate,Separation of Church and State,West VirginiaJohn Unger is simultaneously the pastor for three churches of three different Mainline Protestant denominations, and a state senator in West Virginia. “I’ll tell you that I can’t do it, not alone,” says Unger. “I recognize my limitations,John Unger is simultaneously the pastor for three churches of three different Mainline Protestant denominations, and a state senator in West Virginia. “I’ll tell you that I can’t do it, not alone,” says Unger. “I recognize my limitations, but I believe that with God all things are possible.”Religion & Ethics NewsWeeklyno6:47 Mike McCurry on Fixing Politicshttp://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2013/05/17/may-17-2013-mike-mccurry-on-fixing-politics/18428/
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2013/05/17/may-17-2013-mike-mccurry-on-fixing-politics/18428/#commentsFri, 17 May 2013 17:10:01 +0000http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/?p=16542More →

BOB ABERNETHY: This commencement season, when graduates are encouraged to go out and change the world, we have a Belief and Practice segment on a man with a new graduate degree who wants to do nothing less than change the political climate of Washington, D.C. He is Mike McCurry, an old Washington hand, and we caught up with him last Monday as the Washington National Cathedral opened its doors for the commencement ceremony of the Wesley Theological Seminary.

Choir singing: “The glories of my God and King, the triumphs of his grace.”

ABERNETHY: Mike McCurry is a United Methodist who was press secretary for President Clinton at the White House in the 1990s. Later, he worked in public relations and also served on the board of the Wesley Theological Seminary.It was then that he decided to get a graduate degree, a Master of Arts, and try to change the way Washington works.

Commencement Ceremony Announcer: Michael D. McCurry, with honors.

MIKE McCURRY: i think the single biggest missing ingredient in our political system right now are real relationships of trust, you know, human relationships where people really think about and care about each other. And that’s right where the church has to be. To me, that’s what the church is about.

I’m a guy who comes out of the world of political communications and how we express things in the media. I think we have got to tone it down a lot.

I want to be very clear. We’re not talking about taking church dogma and putting that front and center in the way we do policy-making. We’re not saying there ought to be a theocracy here. But I think there are ways in which people who are guided by the spirit, and who have a deep respect and love for God, treat each other a little bit differently.

Part of the study of scripture is that business about loving your neighbor as yourself. Well, there’s not a whole lot of that kind of love in Washington. But we are a community, and I think there are ways and with various faith traditions—Christianity, obviously, in my case, but others as well can bring us to a point where there’s a little more spiritual bonding that can happen in this town.

ABERNETHY: I asked him whether he could imagine that happening in Congress.

McCURRY: It’s hard sometimes, you know, it would require a lot of prayer, probably.

ABERNETHY: Later, McCurry acknowledged his sense of mission.

McCURRY: I wanted to take courses at the seminary, first and frankly, out of intellectual curiosity. But the more I did it, the more I felt some sense of call, that God was putting on me a challenge to see if I could do something about this broken world of politics that I’ve worked in for so long, to do something to create a little more civil discourse in this country.

ABERNETHY: And that’s what you’re going to do?

McCURRY: That’s what I’m going to use my degree to do.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/files/2013/05/thumb02-mike-mccurry.jpgThis former White House press secretary wants to change the political climate in Washington and restore trust. After graduating from Wesley Theological Seminary, McCurry, a United Methodist, says “God was putting on me a challenge to see if I could do something about this broken world of politics that I’ve worked in for so long.”

]]>http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2013/05/17/may-17-2013-mike-mccurry-on-fixing-politics/18428/feed/0Christianity,partisanship,Politics,Washington National Cathedral,Wesley Theological SeminaryThis former White House press secretary wants to change our bitter political climate and restore “real relationships of trust.” After graduating from Wesley Theological Seminary, McCurry, a United Methodist, says he "felt some sense of call,This former White House press secretary wants to change our bitter political climate and restore “real relationships of trust.” After graduating from Wesley Theological Seminary, McCurry, a United Methodist, says he "felt some sense of call, that God was putting on me a challenge to see if I could do something about this broken world of politics that I've worked in for so long."Religion & Ethics NewsWeeklyno2:15 Mike McCurry Extended Interviewhttp://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2013/05/17/may-17-2013-mike-mccurry-extended-interview/18427/
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2013/05/17/may-17-2013-mike-mccurry-extended-interview/18427/#commentsFri, 17 May 2013 17:05:47 +0000http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/?p=16567More →

]]>“I think the single biggest missing ingredient in our political system right now are real relationships of trust, human relationships where people really think about and care about each other. And that’s right where the church has to be.” Watch more of our conversation with recent Wesley Theological Seminary graduate Mike McCurry about how religion can promote more civil political discourse in Washington.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/files/2013/05/thumb01-mike-mccurry.jpg“I think the single biggest missing ingredient in our political system right now are real relationships of trust, human relationships where people really think about and care about each other. And that’s right where the church has to be.”

]]>http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2013/05/17/may-17-2013-mike-mccurry-extended-interview/18427/feed/0Christianity,Congress,partisanship,Politics,Wesley Theological Seminary"I think the single biggest missing ingredient in our political system right now are real relationships of trust, human relationships where people really think about and care about each other. And that's right where the church has to be.""I think the single biggest missing ingredient in our political system right now are real relationships of trust, human relationships where people really think about and care about each other. And that's right where the church has to be."Religion & Ethics NewsWeeklyno4:04 None of the Above: Political Implicationshttp://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2013/03/08/october-19-2012-none-of-the-above-political-implications/13468/
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KIM LAWTON, correspondent: In the battleground state of Ohio, volunteer Monette Richards is making calls for state and local Democratic candidates. She wants to encourage liberal voters, and especially those who support abortion rights, to get out to the polls next month.

MONETTE RICHARDS (Activist): We get the government that we deserve because we get the government that we vote for. And right now it’s not good enough for me.

LAWTON: Richards is part of a growing force on the political scene: the 46 million Americans who say they are not affiliated with a religion. Their numbers have been rising rapidly, and they are heavily Democratic.

PROF. JOHN GREEN (University of Akron): Something like a quarter of people who identify with the Democrats or lean towards the Democratic Party are in this unaffiliated category. That’s a lot of votes. That’s a major group.

LAWTON: Professor John Green directs the Bliss Institute at the University of Akron and has long studied the relationship between religion and politics.

GREEN: Religious affiliation has often been closely associated with the major party coalitions, with the Democrats and the Republicans each drawing on different religious communities, and sometimes fighting over religious communities that are pretty evenly divided between the two parties. Well, as people are less involved in organized religion, then those relationships change.

LAWTON: The religiously unaffiliated, often called “the nones,” are about twice as likely to describe themselves as political liberals than as conservatives, and they strongly support legal abortion and same-sex marriage. In a breakdown by faith group, the religiously unaffiliated are now the largest constituency for Democrats, outnumbering black Protestants, white mainline Protestants and white Catholics.

GREG SMITH (Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life): In 2008 about three quarters of religiously unaffiliated voters voted for Barack Obama over John McCain. This group, the religiously unaffiliated, was as heavily supportive of Democrats and Barack Obama as evangelicals are of Republicans and as they were of John McCain.

LAWTON: Although people of faith all together still make up the majority of the Democratic coalition, for many years, the Democrats battled a perception that they were not as friendly toward religion as the Republicans. As director of faith outreach for the Democratic National Committee, Reverend Derrick Harkins has been working to change that perception.

REV. DERRICK HARKINS (Democratic National Committee): People of faith make up a significant and important and valuable part of who we are as Democrats and that’s across the spectrum of faith traditions.

LAWTON: Green says the growing number of religiously unaffiliated voters could complicate those efforts.

GREEN: How do they for instance get the black Protestant churches to mobilize voters and to be very enthusiastic about their platform and their candidate without turning off unaffiliated voters, and how do they appeal to those people and get them involved and excited about the candidate without alienating some of the religious communities that support the Democratic Party? It’s a really interesting problem.

LAWTON: Harkins asserts that the Democratic tent is wide enough to accommodate all.

HARKINS: In having respect for that broad spectrum of faith traditions, we also certainly have respect for people who may not practice. The president often says himself that we need to honor and respect those who certainly practice faith and indeed those who may not.

PRES. BARACK OBAMA (in inaugural speech): We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus – and nonbelievers.

LAWTON: The rising number of religiously unaffiliated may be posing new challenges for the Republicans as well. Although they still make up only about 11 percent of the GOP, a disproportionate number of them are young. About a third of all adults under the age of 30 are “nones.” At the University of Akron, these members of the College Republicans say they aren’t affiliated with any particular faith. They worry that their party’s close relationship with the Religious Right could weaken its viability in the future.

BRAD PHLIPOT (Student): With the Republican Party focusing so much on religion and getting the religious vote, I think it might kind of burn out the people in my age group who are like “well you know I’m not really that religious and if they’re focusing so much on religion, you know, maybe that’s just not me.”

MATTHEW MONEYPENNY (Student): It’s more about what they believe politically rather than religiously because that doesn’t really have an effect on society as much as it used to in my opinion.

LAWTON: According to our new survey with the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, almost 70 percent of the religiously unaffiliated say that churches and other religious institutions are too involved in politics. Only 46 percent of the general public agreed with that.

SMITH: People who say they’re not religiously affiliated are much more likely than others to say that they think religious organizations are too political, they are much more likely to say that there’s been too much religious talk from politicians, they’re much more likely to say they think churches and other houses of worship should keep out of political matters.

RICHARDS: When you can’t get into office unless you profess your religion and talk about how religious you are, it’s a very big problem for us.

LAWTON: Like most religiously unaffiliated voters, Monette Richards doesn’t want to hear politicians quote from the Bible or make other overt religious appeals. She believes candidates can eliminate the God-talk without alienating faith-based voters.

RICHARDS: I don’t know that there should be any offending or marginalizing the religious just simply because they aren’t pandering to them anymore.

LAWTON: But most Americans still do see a role for religion in politics. About two-thirds of the general public say it’s important for a president to have strong religious beliefs. A majority also say it doesn’t make them uncomfortable when politicians talk about their faith. In today’s politics, Republicans can’t win without strong support from evangelicals. And in this election season, several groups have been waging an active campaign to mobilize religious conservatives through churches and other religious institutions. The Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Ralph Reed has been spearheading efforts to turnout the evangelical vote.

RALPH REED (Faith and Freedom Coalition): It’s one out of every four voters and if they turn out in huge numbers, they could really change the outcome of this election.

LAWTON: While both parties have projects to reach out to faith constituencies, many religiously unaffiliated voters say despite their growing numbers, they still feel neglected by politicians.

RICHARDS: We’ve been pretty much erased from any kind of election talk.

LAWTON: But how do you reach out to people who aren’t at the same place at the same time every week talking about their shared beliefs?

PHLIPOT: Religion it’s a great place for politics to find people is at church. So maybe that’s something we’ll have to figure out. You know in the future it’s going to be social media you know Facebook groups, stuff like that, Twitter handles. I think that’s something we should use more to utilize the people who are not church going.

BRIAN CRISAN (Student): Religions have a very, they have a structure to their communities and a support network and though I don’t agree with many religious beliefs, I do believe having a support network is important.

LAWTON: Brian Crisan is part of the University of Akron’s Secular Student Alliance, which tries to provide that support to nonbelievers. This spring, Crisan and several other alliance members came to Washington, D.C. for the Reason Rally, which organizers billed as the largest secular gathering ever in America. One of the goals was to demonstrate their potential clout.

BRYAN POOLE (Student): There are definite political movements growing for atheism or people who particularly do not have religious affiliations and those particular organizations can help people basically find identity.

LAWTON: Richards also attended the Reason Rally and says she came away more inspired than ever to be politically engaged. She says she gets frustrated that religious conservatives have co-opted the term “values voters.”

RICHARDS: It’s interesting that we still equate values sort of with piousness and piety and we need to change that association for us, so that we can move past that and know that values is just, you know, ethics and morals and just good people doing the right thing as opposed to, you know, reading the right book.

LAWTON: What values do you apply to your politics?

RICHARDS: Progressive, social justice. We’re all in this together kind of thing, it doesn’t have to be a me against you, Democrats vs. Republicans or anything. It’s, you know, move forward, help the people that need help.

LAWTON: Unaffiliated Republicans say they also want to be known as values voters.

NICK CASTRO (Student): There’s many people that are out there who I’m friends with who I know who do not believe in anything, who are not affiliated with any religion, but they believe in that strong economical growth, they believe in that strong values just they don’t take it from the values from God or from whoever, they take it from the values of themselves.

LAWTON: One challenge may be getting those religiously unaffiliated voters to the polls. In recent elections, the “nones” voted at lower rates than their religiously affiliated counterparts. But given their rising numbers, experts say a politically organized and active movement of the unaffiliated could play a key role in the political landscape for years to come. I’m Kim Lawton in Akron, Ohio.

/wnet/religionandethics/files/2012/10/thumb01-nones-politics.jpgHow will the Democratic Party appeal to religious voters without alienating the rising numbers of religiously unaffiliated voters?

]]>http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2013/03/08/october-19-2012-none-of-the-above-political-implications/13468/feed/12Campaign 2012,Democrats,Faith and Freedom Coalition,Greg Smith,None of the Above,Ohio,Pew Forum,Politics,religiously unaffiliated,secularism,Separation of Church and StateHow will the Democratic Party appeal to religious voters without alienating the rising numbers of religiously unaffiliated voters?How will the Democratic Party appeal to religious voters without alienating the rising numbers of religiously unaffiliated voters?Religion & Ethics NewsWeeklyno9:33 John Green Extended Interviewhttp://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2013/03/08/october-19-2012-john-green-extended-interview/13470/
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2013/03/08/october-19-2012-john-green-extended-interview/13470/#commentsFri, 08 Mar 2013 19:20:46 +0000http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/?p=13470More →

]]>“Candidates do often benefit from talking about their personal faith, but once that becomes politicized it can create some real problems for them, so they tend to stick to other sets of issues.” Watch more of our interview with University of Akron professor John Green on the political implications of the rising numbers of religiously unaffiliated voters.

/wnet/religionandethics/files/2012/10/thumb01-johngreen.jpg“Candidates do often benefit from talking about their personal faith, but once that becomes politicized it can create some real problems for them, so they tend to stick to other sets of issues.”

]]>http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2013/03/08/october-19-2012-john-green-extended-interview/13470/feed/0John Green,None of the Above,Politics,religiously unaffiliated“Candidates do often benefit from talking about their personal faith, but once that becomes politicized it can create some real problems for them, so they tend to stick to other sets of issues.” Watch more of our interview with University of Akron prof...“Candidates do often benefit from talking about their personal faith, but once that becomes politicized it can create some real problems for them, so they tend to stick to other sets of issues.” Watch more of our interview with University of Akron professor John Green on the political implications of the rising numbers of religiously unaffiliated voters.
Religion & Ethics NewsWeeklyno15:35 Greg Smith on Politics and the Unaffiliatedhttp://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2013/03/08/october-19-2012-greg-smith-on-politics-and-the-unaffiliated/13472/
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]]>“In our data for 2012 we are finding that the religiously unaffiliated outnumber white mainline Protestants, white Catholics, and even black Protestants among Democratic and Democratic-leaning registered voters.”

/wnet/religionandethics/files/2012/10/thumb01-gregsmith-politics.jpg“In our data for 2012 we are finding that the religiously unaffiliated outnumber white mainline Protestants, white Catholics, and even black Protestants among Democratic and Democratic-leaning registered voters.”

]]>The Right Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington; John Garvey, a lawyer and the president of Catholic University; and Harold Dean Trulear, professor of theology at the Howard University Divinity School, continue their conversation about the mood of the country and perspectives on the next four years by weighing the crisis of gun violence and the debate over health care, two social issues that will continue to dominate the domestic scene as President Obama’s second administration begins.

/wnet/religionandethics/files/2013/01/thumb02-web-extra-inauguration.jpgThree religious leaders continue their conversation about the mood of the country as President Obama’s second inaugural approaches and consider the crisis of conflict and gun violence. Violence, says theology professor Harold Dean Trulear, is “who we are as Americans.”

]]>http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2013/01/18/january-18-2013-extended-inauguration-perspectives/14537/feed/3Barack Obama,gun control,Harold Dean Trulear,Inauguration,John Garvey,Mariann Edgar Budde,Politics,religious freedomThree religious leaders continue their conversation about the mood of the country as President Obama’s second inaugural approaches and consider the crisis of gun violence and the inability of American society to deal with conflict. Violence,Three religious leaders continue their conversation about the mood of the country as President Obama’s second inaugural approaches and consider the crisis of gun violence and the inability of American society to deal with conflict. Violence, says theology professor Harold Dean Trulear, is “who we are as Americans.”Religion & Ethics NewsWeeklyno13:00 Religion in the 2012 Electionhttp://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2012/11/02/november-2-2012-religion-in-the-2012-election/13685/
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2012/11/02/november-2-2012-religion-in-the-2012-election/13685/#commentsFri, 02 Nov 2012 21:54:56 +0000http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/?p=13685More →

KIM LAWTON, correspondent: Both campaigns continue their active efforts to get their constituencies out to the polls next week. Professor John Green of the Bliss Institute at the University of Akron says in a tight election, the campaigns look to the coalitions they can rely upon, and that includes faith coalitions.

PROF. JOHN GREEN (University of Akron): Each side understands that every vote will count.

LAWTON: Green says while faith-based outreach hasn’t dominated this campaign season, it has continued to be a key factor.

GREEN: A lot of that effort though, is not on television. It’s going on behind the scenes, because appealing to a particular group always has the capacity of alienating another group. This is true for Democrats as well as Republicans. So they’re trying to assemble these coalitions a little bit, I wouldn’t say completely below radar, but certainly off television.

LAWTON: Prior to 2008, scholars talked about a God-gap in American politics: the more often people attended religious services, the more likely they were to vote Republican, the exception being African Americans, who are overwhelmingly Democratic. Many experts believe that trend will continue in this election cycle. Melissa Deckman is professor of political science, at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland.

PROF. MELISSA DECKMAN (Washington College): If you think about the God-gap, so-called God-gap, it’s still alive and well this year in American politics, and it’s bigger than things like the gender gap, although you often hear more in the media about women’s voting and men’s voting, so I think religion continues to play a big role in American presidential elections.

LAWTON: The Republicans are hoping for a big turnout from evangelicals, who make up about one-quarter of GOP voters. In the early days of the campaign, there were questions about whether theological differences would keep evangelicals from supporting a Mormon candidate. Governor Mitt Romney’s campaign tried to woo them on the basis of shared values.

GOV. MITT ROMNEY: (in speech) People of different faiths, like yours and mine, sometimes wonder where we can meet in common purpose, when there are so many differences in creed and theology. Surely the answer is that we can meet in service, in shared moral convictions about our nation stemming from a common worldview.

DECKMAN: It seems to me that the Mormon issue isn’t quite as big of a deal as perhaps many had speculated. Instead, we see that evangelicals have really taken to Romney, I think mainly because of their dislike of Obama, but his religious views I think have not mattered as much.

LAWTON: The question is whether enough evangelical Republican voters have been convinced that the religious differences don’t matter.

GREEN: I think that Governor Romney does face a challenge with getting high level of turnout and enthusiastic support from the white evangelical community, which has been a mainstay of Republican presidential vote for a number of years now. And that’s because there is this lingering skepticism.

LAWTON: Catholics have been another important group this election season, especially with Catholic candidates on both tickets for the first time ever. But it has been clear that Vice-President Joe Biden and Representative Paul Ryan have very different views on how to apply their faith to their politics.

VICE-PRES. JOE BIDEN: (at debate) Life begins at conception. That’s the church’s judgment. I accept it in my personal life. But I refuse to impose it on equally devout Christians and Muslims and Jews and — I just refuse to impose that on others, unlike my friend here, the congressman.

REP. PAUL RYAN (at debate): I don’t see how a person can separate their public life from their private life or from their faith. Our faith informs us in everything we do.

LAWTON: In many ways, those differences mirror differences among grassroots Catholic voters. At one end of the spectrum are strongly conservative Catholics who tend to stress issues around abortion. At the other end are more liberal Catholics who stress issues of economic justice. Then there are those in the middle.

GREEN: There are if you will, Biden Catholics and Ryan Catholics, and both campaigns are struggling very hard to get those groups mobilized but then there are a lot of Catholics who are in the middle, who might agree with the Republicans on one issue and with the Democrats on another so quite an effort to get the middle of the road Catholics to swing one way or another.

LAWTON: One unusual hallmark of this campaign was the high profile involvement of outside Catholic players. A group of nuns led by Sister Simone Campbell of the lobby group NETWORK, launched a road trip called “Nuns on the Bus” to highlight their view that the budget cuts promoted by Paul Ryan would hurt the poor and violate church teachings. Campbell was invited to share her views at the Democratic National Convention.

Meanwhile, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, offered benedictions at both the Democratic and Republican Conventions. For months, the bishops have led a vigorous campaign against the Obama Administration’s policy mandating that employers, including many religious employers, offer free coverage of contraceptive services to their employees. The bishops accuse the Obama Administration of violating religious liberty.

It’s unclear how much those efforts have changed any opinions among voters. Polls show Catholics remain deeply divided, and that could be especially important in battleground states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida. While much of the focus has been on the economy, Green says here at the end of the campaign, other social issues may play an important role.

GREEN: There’s some strong incentives for the parties to reach out for secondary issues. Issues like women’s rights, religious liberty, the environment, foreign policy. Because if voters are evenly divided on their most salient issue, the economy, they’re going to make their decision perhaps on some of these secondary issues. issues that they don’t regard as the most important, but they might not be able to choose between Governor Romney and President Obama on something like unemployment so some of these other issues may matter.

LAWTON: Both candidates have attempted to apply moral and religious language to their economic policies.

ROMNEY: (at debate) I think it’s, frankly, not moral for my generation to keep spending massively more than we take in, knowing those burdens are going to be passed on to the next generation and they’re going to be paying the interest and the principal all their lives.

PRES. BARACK OBAMA: (in speech) If I’m willing to give something up as somebody who’s been extraordinarily blessed, and give up some of the tax breaks that I enjoy, I actually think that’s going to make economic sense. But for me as a Christian, it also coincides with Jesus’s teaching that “for unto whom much is given, much shall be required.”

LAWTON: But much of the God-talk has been done directly to religious audiences, as opposed to in general campaign venues. Even Obama, who made frequent religious references in the last campaign and throughout his presidency, hasn’t been emphasizing it as much of late. Some experts believe that could be to avoid alienating the growing number of secular voters who are Democratic.

GREEN: There’s some real positives to these candidate’s faith but there’s also some real potential downside, and so that’s why I don’t, we don’t see the candidates themselves talking a lot about it, but their surrogates and their campaigns are reaching out to religious and non religious voters alike, trying to bring them into their camp.

LAWTON: For most of the campaign, Romney refrained from speaking directly about his Mormon faith. In the last few weeks, he’s opened up a bit more, although he still largely avoids using the word “Mormon.”

ROMNEY: (at debate) My passion probably flows from the fact that I believe in God. And I believe we’re all children of the same God. I believe we have a responsibility to care for one another. I — I served as a missionary for my church. I served as a pastor in my congregation for about 10 years.

DECKMAN: I think what has been a smart strategy for Mitt Romney is not to focus on Mormonism per se, because when you start talking about the specifics of any faith, then that becomes the issue.

LAWTON: With a Mormon, two Catholics, and only one Protestant on the ticket this time, Deckman says that represents something important about the nation.

DECKMAN: Americans, despite their religious differences, by and large are pretty tolerant. // We have our issues in American history where that’s not necessarily the case and some groups like atheists and Muslims might not feel that way, but generally speaking we have a surprising amount of tolerance here.

LAWTON: And whatever happens next week, many believe that could be one of the most important religion stories coming out of this presidential election. I’m Kim Lawton reporting

/wnet/religionandethics/files/2012/11/thumb01-religion-2012election.jpgThe God gap was alive and well this year in American politics, according to one professor of political science. White evangelicals, Catholics, Mormons, and a growing number of religiously unaffiliated voters all played a part in Election 2012.

]]>http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2012/11/02/november-2-2012-religion-in-the-2012-election/13685/feed/3Abortion,Barack Obama,Campaign 2012,Catholic Vote,Evangelicals,God gap,John Green,Melissa Deckman,Mitt Romney,Politics,Separation of Church and State,Timothy DolanThe God gap was alive and well this year in American politics, according to one professor of political science. White evangelicals, Catholics, Mormons, and a growing number of religiously unaffiliated voters all played a part in Election 2012.The God gap was alive and well this year in American politics, according to one professor of political science. White evangelicals, Catholics, Mormons, and a growing number of religiously unaffiliated voters all played a part in Election 2012.Religion & Ethics NewsWeeklyno8:35Welton Gaddy: Religion and Patriotismhttp://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2012/09/07/welton-gaddy-religion-and-patriotism/12941/
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]]>Rev. C. Welton Gaddy, president of the Interfaith Alliance, talks about the role of religion in politics and the dangers when politicians inappropriately use religion.

The president of the Interfaith Alliance talks about the role of religion in politics and the dangers when politicians inappropriately use religion./wnet/religionandethics/files/2012/09/thumb01-welton-gaddy.jpg

]]>http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2012/09/07/welton-gaddy-religion-and-patriotism/12941/feed/3Democratic National Convention,Interfaith Alliance,PoliticsRev. C. Welton Gaddy, president of the Interfaith Alliance, talks about the role of religion in politics and the dangers when politicians inappropriately use religion.Rev. C. Welton Gaddy, president of the Interfaith Alliance, talks about the role of religion in politics and the dangers when politicians inappropriately use religion.Religion & Ethics NewsWeeklyno3:12 Look Ahead 2012http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2011/12/30/december-30-2011-look-ahead-2012/10043/
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2011/12/30/december-30-2011-look-ahead-2012/10043/#commentsFri, 30 Dec 2011 21:30:56 +0000http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/?p=10043More →

BOB ABERNETHY, host: Welcome. I’m Bob Abernethy. It’s good to have you with us. Our panel of top reporters looks to the year 2012, and the top religion and ethics stories they see ahead. Kim Lawton is managing editor of Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly. Kevin Eckstrom is the editor-in-chief of Religion News Service. And E.J. Dionne is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a columnist for the Washington Post, and a professor at Georgetown University. Welcome to you all, and Happy New Year.

ALL: Happy New Year.

ABERNETHY: E.J., the Iowa caucuses take place in just a few days. What do you see there and what is the role of religious conservatives in the Republican campaign?

E.J. DIONNE (Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution): Well, in the Iowa Republican caucuses religious conservatives always play an important role. And what’s been striking for most of this campaign is how fragmented they’ve been. There’s been a real argument among them about who the better candidate is. There’s no national champion as we talked about last week, Mike Huckabee, four years ago really emerged as a unifying candidate for Christian conservatives. Some of that also I suspect has to do with other forces in the Republican Party. There is the Tea Party which includes a lot of evangelical Christians, one should say, but is a kind of different thrust and you have a campaign built much more around economics and the role of government than around the issues that specifically inspire religious conservatives, such as abortion and issues related to gay marriage. So I think that there is not going to be the kind of clarity about their role this time as there was four years ago.

KIM LAWTON (Managing Editor, Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly): And of course, we do have two Mormon candidates and that’s still an issue. It hasn’t been front and center this time around for evangelicals as much as it was last time around but there has been talk about Mormonism is a cult or Mormons aren’t Christians and that’s a prevailing attitude among many voters which makes them maybe in a primary a little more hesitant to vote for a Mitt Romney or a Jon Huntsman. One interesting comment last time, a couple months ago, was from when Cain was getting all the support but then all the allegations starting coming forward about him and one evangelical pastor said so, our choices are we vote for a Mormon who’s had one wife, we vote for a Catholic, Newt Gingrich, who’s had several wives or we vote for an evangelical, Herman Cain, who apparently had a whole harem. So, you know, they’re not liking their choices.

DIONNE: You know what’s interesting this time compared with the last time is Mitt Romney ran into I think some real anti-Mormon prejudice the last time. The Latter Day Saints church has really made a very aggressive effort this time to kind of fight against that by explaining its faith. I was at a session that they organized by the Poytner Institute over at the Pew Forum where they were talking about here’s who we are and here’s who we’re not and I think it’s obviously very useful for the church but I actually think it’s a useful way to combat religious prejudice generally.

KEVIN ECKSTROM (Editor -in-Chief, Religion News Service): One of the things I’ve been struck by and may be worth watching is the difference it seems of the Mormonism between Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman. Everyone knows that Mitt Romney is a Mormon and an outspoken one. He was the equivalent of a church pastor for a long time. He built a temple in Boston. He’s very Mormon. Jon Huntsman is also Mormon but to a different kind of way. It’s almost like oh yeah and he’s Mormon, too. And so I think it will be interesting to watch to see if Huntsman actually goes anywhere whether or not he will face the same sort of Mormon scrutiny that Romney has.

ABERNETHY: Why should he be considered not as great a Mormon as Romney?

ECKSTROM: Well I think it’s mostly because people just don’t know much about him or don’t even know who he is. I think he’s a relative unknown. It’s not that he’s any less devout or any less of a good Mormon that Romney. But, Romney, I think took the brunt of the anti-Mormon sentiment.

DIONNE: But I also think Romney was a real leader in the church. I think that’s right. And I think this is a very important part of his identity and he’s been very clear about that.

LAWTON: And we should say too that while evangelicals in the primaries might say I don’t know if I want to vote for a Mormon, if you put a Mormon up against Barack Obama, they’re going to vote for the Mormon most likely, because there’s so much anti-Barack Obama sentiment out there within conservative voters. And so I do think that it’s more of an issue in the primaries than it would be in a general election.

ABERNETHY: Has there emerged yet what looks like a great underlying theme for the election of 2012? Is it going to be jobs? Is it going to be the role of government? What do you see?

DIONNE: Well, the economy is always an issue in American elections. And when the unemployment rate is this high and when you’ve gone through such a terrible economic time since 2008, since the crash of 2008, it’s inevitable that the economy is a central issue. But I thought one of the most interesting events of the year in terms of speeches that politicians give was Barack Obama’s speech in Osawatomie, Kansas, where Teddy Roosevelt, a hundred and one years ago, gave his New Nationalism speech which set him up for his run as a progressive third party candidate in 1912. And I think Obama was really sending a signal there that he wants this election not just to be a referendum on the past and he has some interest in that because the economy is still, even if it improves, is going to be less than people want. But he wants it to be about the future and about the role of government in the economy, what should government do to make opportunity available to the middle class? What should the rules of the economy be? And I think that, I happen to like the speech, whether you like the speech or not, I think it set a really interesting framework for the election because the Republicans in this election will clearly but running as much more pure free market candidates without government interference, lower taxes, less regulation. I think there could be a clarity to this campaign and to the argument that we haven’t seen in a long time.

LAWTON: And religious groups have been involved in these economic debates and in the economic campaigning, political campaigning, as well, on both sides, which makes it interesting to have that moral injection on both ends of the debate and so you have people from a more moderate, more liberal standpoint talking about the immorality of hurting people who are already vulnerable, cutting programs that would hurt the poor, cutting programs for foreign aid and so there’s been a lot of concern about that which is translating into politics. But you also have it in the conservative side. It’s immoral to leave a lot of debt to our children. A lot of that kind of language and that is seeping into the campaigning as well.

ABERNETHY: It’s interesting that, E.J., maybe you can note this. It’s not winner take all, is it, this year? Is it? Can’t you come in second and still have a lot of delegates and be influential at the convention?

DIONNE: Historically, Democrats got rid of winner take all which is one of the reasons why the ’08 race between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton went on so long. Republicans have, at the front end, have tended to get rid of winner take all though there is some of it still at the back end of this process. But it could mean that the Republican race will last longer this time.

LAWTON: Or never end.

DIONNE: Yes, or maybe never end. I mean it’s the first time I’ve heard talk of a brokered convention which journalists love because that would be fun but it never happens. And I still don’t think it will happen.

ABERNETHY: I wanted to ask you about that.

DIONNE: If no one gets a clear majority, in other words, if there were at least three candidates with significant blocks of delegates, I still don’t think it will happen, but it’s more plausible it seems, at this moment, more plausible than it’s been in a long time.

ABERNETHY: What about somebody being nominated who is not now running?

DIONNE: Well, there are a lot of Republicans who long for that. I have been very struck by some of my conservative friends who are genuinely unhappy with the make-up of this field. And, I’ve been reminding people, maybe just showing that I’m getting older, there was a write-in campaign for Henry Calbot Lodge that carried the New Hampshire primary way back in 1964. And you wonder if something like that will happen. Again, still unlikely but this has been such a strange contest I don’t rule anything out anymore.

LAWTON: And I’m going to be watching too, on the other side, the Democratic side, how President Obama is going to reach out to people of faith. That was a huge issue in the 2008 election. President Obama had mounted a campaign of faith-based outreach, unprecedented for a Democratic candidate in a really long time. And, you know, is he going to continue that? Is that going to be as robust? And how are people of faith feeling about him? And I know you’ve also looked at the fact that there is some dissatisfaction with him.

ECKSTROM: Right, both on, obviously on the right, but also on the left. There’s a lot of progressives who saw him as the knight in shining armor who was going to come in and right all the ills of the world and obviously that hasn’t happened. And so I think the President’s biggest challenge is, when it comes to religion, is not speaking in Catholic terms, or Jewish terms, or mainline Protestant terms or anything like that, but is getting anybody out to vote for him. I mean, getting his base and getting just any of his supporters, whatever faith they may be, getting them motivated enough to go out and vote for him.

DIONNE: And I think you saw in 2010 that Democrats on the progressive side really fell down in terms of their organizing among religious people compared to what they did in 2008. And they have some ground to make up now.

ABERNETHY: What about gridlock in Washington? Is there any possibility, any even remote possibility, that in this election year coming up there will be any change in that?

DIONNE: Do you believe in miracles?

LAWTON: This is a religion show.

DIONNE: It is a religion show.

ABERNETHY: But look, there is a new poll, Pew poll, I think, that says there’s the greatest disapproval of Congress now that there has ever been in the past. So where does that lead? How does that affect the election?

DIONNE: First of all, those of us who are journalists can be grateful to Congress because somebody can poll lower than we do. I mean, my sense is that the only way you really could see some systematic breaking down of the gridlock is if it looks like President Obama is going to win the election, in other words, if by the middle of the year, he got what looked like a reasonably big lead a lot of the Republicans in Congress who have wanted to block his programs say wait a minute. He’s going to win. We’ve got to get reelected. We’ve got to start working with him. That happened with Bill Clinton in 1996 where the gridlock broke up. If, on the other hand, the election continues to look competitive in the middle of the year, as if you were to place a bet, that’s probably where you would place it, then I’m not sure there’s a lot of political interest on either side in sort of making concessions. I think they will fight it through to the end and then see what happens.

ABERNETHY: What do you imagine the future to be for the Occupy movement?

ECKSTROM: Well it will be interesting a, whether they can make it through the winter. It’s cold out there. But then b, sort of what do they become? One of the big sort of criticisms of this movement has been that nobody quite knows exactly what they want or what they stand for or what they’re even demanding. And so I think the big challenge for them in 2012 is going to be saying OK this is what we need to happen. It’s an election year, there’s a lot of people paying attention, so they probably have a better chance than not. But, the questions that they raise, the moral questions about fairness and equity and corporate responsibility, those aren’t going away, whether or not the movement is able to harness that into something kind of tangible, I think, is still a little unclear.

ABERNETHY: It’s been seen as very secular movement even though religious people have helped it in many ways.

LAWTON: Well, that’s what I want to watch. That’s exactly what I want to watch. Because it does have this perception that it’s a bunch of you know secular, I don’t know, unemployed people hanging around but there’s a strong religious current in it. And that was growing toward the end of 2011 and so you saw African American clergy getting involved, wanting to liken it to the Civil Rights Movement. You had a lot of mainline Protestant, Catholic, other church leaders providing support on the edges. Some of them told me that they didn’t want to be too out front, they didn’t want to look like they were high jacking the movement, but they are there and how is that going to affect what they do, what the rhetoric is, and is that going to continue.

ECKSTROM: It’s also worth noting that one of the most iconic images from this movement was when they paraded around a golden calf, modeled on the bull of Wall Street. When the marched that around lower Manhattan and here in Washington, D.C. That’s clearly a Biblical image so it’s not a completely secular kind of loosey goosey movement.

DIONNE: God and mammon is a rather old theme.

ABERNETHY: What about the extremely interesting cases that are going to be coming down from the Supreme Court, beginning with Obama’s healthcare? The Supreme Court’s going to hear that case and hand down a decision about it right in the middle of the election campaign.

DIONNE: And there’s some much speculation about how a court that often goes five to four in a conservative direction but doesn’t always go five to four in a conservative direction will rule. And, some of the judges in the circuit court who have upheld the healthcare plan have been conservatives and they were, in some ways, you felt they were writing to justices like Scalia and Thomas and Roberts and Alito and saying wait a minute it would not be conservative to overthrow this law. Then the other debate is which way would Republicans or President Obama be better off? Would it be a stinging defeat for Obama and therefore hurt him or would it take this issue off the table or even allow him to go on the offensive and say well we do need a national healthcare plan again so it is going to be an extraordinary day when the court rules on that.

ABERNETHY: Are religious groups involved in that, have they got appeals going for them?

ECKSTROM: Quite a few, especially from the conservative side. One of the first, original challenges to this healthcare law came out of Liberty University, founded by Jerry Falwell. But there’s a lot of conservatives who, not only for their conservative political ideology, but their religious ideology, don’t like the idea of the government telling them you have to have insurance. And, that’s really what the fight is over is the mandate to purchase individual health insurance or pay a fine. So there’s a lot of conservative groups who are against it. But there’s also a lot of progressive groups who are very much in favor of this, in fact don’t think it went far enough. The interesting group to watch is actually going to be the Catholic bishops because the bishops fought tooth and nail over provisions of this law but then after it was passed and signed into law they said well, we’re not going to fight to remove it.

DIONNE: And then you also have the Catholic Health Association which runs a very large share of hospitals in the United States, a minority, but they have a vast system and there other religious hospitals, religiously sort of affiliated hospitals, in the country who in general supported the healthcare reform because it would expand coverage of poorer Americans, working class Americans, who use their facilities.

LAWTON: But, one of the more contentious parts of that, sort of a lesser aspect, was coverage of contraception. And the Catholic Church was very concerned about being forced to cover things they don’t agree with, such as contraception. And so, that was a battle that’s still going to be played out on some of the local levels.

ABERNETHY: The Supreme Court is also going to consider and hand down an opinion, presumably, about immigration.

LAWTON: Well this has been a really difficult issue, especially for a lot of people in the religious community. A lot of people of faith have been actively helping immigrants and some of the laws, the Arizona law is going to be up before the Supreme Court, there was also a law in Alabama that a lot of religious groups were involved in. And people of faith are helping immigrants, they don’t want it to be criminalized to help immigrants, they are also don’t want the people that they are trying to help be considered criminals. I am interested that even evangelicals seem a little divided on this issue. Technically they tend to me more law and order people and therefore against loosening up on immigration. On the other hand, you have a lot of evangelical congregations that are seeing an influx of Latinos in the pews. And, so it’s a personal issue for a lot of these people. And you know, the kids in the youth group might be, their parents might be undocumented. So you’re seeing some wiggle room in the religious community.

DIONNE: Latinos, immigrants, illegal as well as legal, are among the most vibrant parts of both the evangelical world and the Catholic world. And I think you, the truth of the matter is a lot of the churches are in competition with each other to try to win the allegiance of Latinos which I think helps explain why a lot of Christian groups, regardless of their views on other matters, have tended to be more open to immigrants cause these are the people in their congregations.

ECKSTROM: And speaking of courts, another case to watch, it’s not at the Supreme Court level just yet, but the Prop 8 battle in California. In 2008, voters passed basically an end to same-sex marriage and it’s gone through the courts so far. Federal court has ruled against Proposition 8, saying that it’s unconstitutional. Now it’s going to the federal appeals court and regardless of what the federal appeals court decides, which could very well come in 2012, it’s probably going to go to the Supreme Court very soon after so this is going to be a crucial decision to watch for where that debate’s going to go.

LAWTON: And speaking of gay issues, we have in 2012 a couple of mainline Protestant denominations that are going to be meeting and this has been a tough issue for them and it’s going to continue to be tough in 2012. The United Methodists will be meeting and one of the issues before them is going to be can they marry, can their clergy marry same-sex couples in the states where that is legal. They can’t do that right now. There has been a group of retired United Methodist ministers that is doing that because active ministers could face penalties or the possibility of being defrocked. And, so that’s going to be up for grabs. In the Episcopal Church, you still see this slow breaking apart in the whole worldwide Anglican Communion over some of these issues, interpretation of scripture, and there are a lot of court battles and individual congregational battles going on there too.

ABERNETHY: And E.J., the Pope is scheduled to go to Mexico and to Cuba.

DIONNE: You know, the Vatican’s relationship with Cuba has been fascinating. I happen to be in Rome when Pope John Paul’s trip to Cuba was announced and there have been some interesting differences of opinion. The Vatican has tended to be in favor of a gradual, peaceful transition from the Castro regime. And the fact that the Pope is willing to go there speaks to this desire for a gradual change. Some of the Cuban community in the United States, the Catholic Cuban community one should say, are very uneasy about this. They would like a sort of harder push to get that regime out. So there have been some arguments over the years between our Cuban community, particularly in South Florida, and the Vatican. It will be fascinating to see how exactly, what Pope Benedict says about alterations in that regime and religious freedom. Castro himself, is a dictator, he also has had this kind of lifelong fascination with religion. He seems to be an atheist “but”. Maybe the “but”’s getting bigger as the years go by.

ABERNETHY: Folks, our time is almost up and in the couple minutes remaining I want to ask you, in addition to what we’ve just been talking about, what else are you watching? What are you really keeping an eye on that you think is going to be happening in 2012?

DIONNE: Well I’m looking in the campaign, I think it could be a very good campaign or a really terrible campaign. The good campaign, as I said, is because the parties will probably be as philosophically divided as they have been since 1964. We could have a really fundamental debate where we decide on a direction for the country for some time ahead and that could be a great thing. I also worry that with all of this advertising, the money that can be spent by outside groups because of the Citizens United decision, we may have more outright lying on the air and I know a lot of people think well campaigns are full of lies. It could be much much worse this year and I am very worried about what that’s going to do to us and what it might, how people will feel about this process at the end.

ABERNETHY: Kevin, are you looking at anything that might be a little brighter than more lies?

ECKSTROM: Well, actually I was going to say the end of the world because in 2011, Harold Camping famously said that the world was going to end on May 21st and then it was October 21st. It didn’t happen. 2012 apparently is supposed to be the year that the world will end according to the Mayan calendar so I don’t expect it to happen.

ABERNETHY: Mayan?

ECKSTROM: Yes, the ancient Mayan calendar. So, a lot of people are wondering if that’s actually going to happen. I don’t think it will but doomsday stories are always fun.

DIONNE: That’s the boldest prediction I’ve ever heard on this show.

ECKSTROM: That’s right.

ABERNETHY: Kim?

LAWTON: Well, I’ll take it back to a more serious note, hopefully, I don’t know. That was pretty serious. Another case before the Supreme Court is a church state case that looks at who gets to define who is a minister. Does a congregation get to decide who their ministers are? Or does the government have an input? And this makes a difference when you talk about clashes between religious beliefs and civil rights law. So, for example, if you are a congregation that believes only in a female pastor does that violate gender, anti-gender discrimination laws? And so, there’s been a lot of differing opinions in the court and how broadly does the definition of minister go. If you perform ministry in the church by running the screen in the front, does that make you a minister? If you are the janitor, some people say that’s a ministry, does that make you a minister? And what was really surprising to a lot of religious groups was that the Obama administration argued that there should be no exceptions. That religious groups should not be exempted from these civil rights laws and that had a lot of religious groups upset so I’m going to be watching that and especially the reaction to that decision.

ABERNETHY: Our time is almost up. Is up now. Thanks to Kevin Eckstrom, to E.J. Dionne and to Kim Lawton. Happy New Year to you all and to all our viewers. I’m Bob Abernethy.

We discuss the major religion and ethics stories anticipated in 2012, including religion in the upcoming elections, faith-based activity in the budget debates and immigration policy, key religion cases before the Supreme Court and mainline denominations and issues of homosexuality./wnet/religionandethics/files/2009/08/promo1518-thumb.jpg

]]>http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2011/12/30/december-30-2011-look-ahead-2012/10043/feed/42012,E. J. Dionne,Economy,homosexuality,immigration,Kevin Eckstrom,Kim Lawton,Look Ahead,Occupy Wall Street,Politics,Presidential Candidates,RepublicansWe discuss the major religion and ethics stories anticipated in 2012, including religion in the upcoming elections, faith-based activity in the budget debates and immigration policy, key religion cases before the Supreme Court and mainline denomination...We discuss the major religion and ethics stories anticipated in 2012, including religion in the upcoming elections, faith-based activity in the budget debates and immigration policy, key religion cases before the Supreme Court and mainline denominations and issues of homosexuality.Religion & Ethics NewsWeeklyno23:35